How you can use a new tool that looks at climate change in your own backyard - MPR News
How you can use a new tool that looks at climate change in your own backyard | MPR News
How you can use a new tool that looks at climate change in your own backyard
The University of Minnesota launches a new online tool this week. It allows people to visualize how a future climate will look and feel in their own backyards.
Users can zoom in on rainfall, temperature and other climate projections down to the size of a neighborhood. The goal is to help engineers, farmers and others better plan for a climate-changed future.
For more on this new tool, University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership director Heidi Roop joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.
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Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”